During the last few weeks, my days interning at KAKE-TV have not been as frequent as before.
Nevertheless, they have still been interesting and worthwhile.
One day, I followed a story about high energy bills because of the scorching heat and what Westar was doing to help people make payments. That day, though, the reporter-photographer team had been following different story leads. All three or four story ideas had fallen through, and energy bills were the only viable option for the day.
On another occasion, Larry Hatteberg was also having trouble finding a "Hatteberg's People" story. He had called multiple people, but wasn't able to get a hold of anyone. He was almost to deadline, and was tempted to cancel the segment for the week, when he finally got a call back.
A different evening, a photographer and I were going on a string of stories to shoot. Each of them were close enough and at different time intervals, we figured we'd be able to make it to all three. As we were driving to the first assignment, our assignment editor called: there was a change of plans.
We had to scratch our first assignment (which probably wasn't that important anyway), and went down to Derby, where a tree had fallen onto a house. It was a much better story, but it ended up changing our scheduled stops, and we had to ad lib.
Clearly, journalists don't like their stories like they like their eggs: scrambled.
And, I agree. Sometimes stories need momentum, research, and depth to really be successful. Something that just happens on the fly could work, but it's certainly not ideal.
But, in the news industry, those long-term, well-researched stories almost never happen. Everyday, there's a new story, and most of the time you don't know about them in advance.
On the other hand, sometimes stories that come together last minute can actually turn out quite well.
Last week, as a photographer and I were en-route to a routine bus inspection, we got a call that a woman's roof had been partially peeled off from the previous night's storm.
Even though she was not especially welcoming to us, I think she got some reassurance and comfort in knowing that her story would be shared with the city. It was depressing to see the damage that had been done to her home, but both of us were very sensitive and grateful for her willingness to talk to us.
And, today, one of our reporters was having difficulty finding a worthwhile story. As he was calling possible sources, the police scanners rang out: "Bank Robbery. Sunflower Bank. 2073 Webb Road."
From that time on, my ears were glued to the radios, to hear any developments or updates in the story. We got a detailed description of the robbery suspect (a much better description than any of our competitors). The police found the get-away abandoned in a nearby neighborhood.
But, in a Batman-type move, the bank had put a tracking device on the money, and officers were able to locate the three suspects in an Northeast Wichita home. No one was injured in the robbery or the search afterward.
So, in a seemingly fortunate twist of fate, our reporter had a story--and a good one at that.
Ultimately, as one of our anchors wisely said: "Every day is different."
Sometimes your stories fall apart; sometimes your stories come together; and sometimes, both of those things happen on the same day.
If I've learned anything about journalism, it's that this business is unpredictable. Plans and outlines can last five minutes before they get changed. I can't imagine how many times a news director calls a reporter or photographer and vice versa -- simply because a story didn't work out... or because it worked out better than expected.
I know that it's cliche to say "predict the unpredictable," but I would rather say, "Don't predict the unpredictable. Predict that things will fall apart and that things will come together. And then, take your chances on which it will be."
No comments:
Post a Comment